Breaking: Nigeria’s longest serving finance minister d!es

A former Minister of Finance and the Sardaunan Sokoto, Alhaji Abubakar Alhaji, is dead.

Family sources confirmed on Thursday that the elder statesman passed away in Abuja. He was aged 87.

His death marks the end of a distinguished public service career that spanned more than three decades in Nigeria’s civil service and government, during which he served in several strategic positions, including Minister of Finance, Minister of State for Budget and Planning, Permanent Secretary and Nigeria’s High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Alhaji served as Minister of State, Budget and Planning in 1988. He later served as Minister of Finance between 1990 and 1991 during the administration of former military President, General Ibrahim Babangida.

He later represented Nigeria as High Commissioner to the United Kingdom from 1992 to 1996, where he helped deepen bilateral relations.Africans & Diaspora

A career civil servant, Alhaji Alhaji rose through the ranks to Permanent Secretary in the Ministries of Finance, Trade, Industries and National Planning.

As the Sardaunan Sokoto, he held one of the most revered traditional titles in the Sokoto Caliphate. He was turbaned in 1990, succeeding the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello. In that role, he was a bridge between government, the traditional institution and the people.

The family said funeral arrangements will be announced in due course in accordance with Islamic rites.

Born into the family of Muhammed Sani, popularly known as Alhaji Alhaji, Abubakar Alhaji began his education in Kano before transferring to Government College, Katsina. He later attended Bournemouth College of Commerce and the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, where he earned a degree in Political Economy. He also undertook professional training at the Hague Institute of Social Services in the Netherlands and the International Monetary Fund Institute in Washington, D.C.

He joined the Nigerian Civil Service in 1964 as an Assistant Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Finance and steadily rose through the ranks.